Paris: Distressed with the agricultural system, a group of protestors threw soup at the bulletproof glass-protected Mona Lisa painting in Paris on Sunday. Video footage showed two women, reportedly climate activists, flinging red soup at Leonard da Vinci's masterpiece, to gasps from onlookers. "What is more important? Art or the right to have a healthy and sustainable food system?" shouted the activists, speaking in French. They had ducked under a security barrier to get as close as they could to the painting and were led away by Louvre security guards.
The activists represented the French organisation "Riposte Alimentaire" (Food Response), which issued a statement saying the protest sought to highlight the need to protect the environment and sources of food.
Video of protestors attacking Mona Lisa painting
Mona Lisa painting suffered many attacks
The 16th-century Renaissance masterpiece has seen a lot of attacks in its over 500 years of existence. The painting was stolen in 1911 by a museum employee, an event which increased the painting’s international fame. It was also damaged in an acid attack perpetrated by a vandal in the 1950s and has since been kept behind glass.
In 2009, a Russian woman who was angry at not being able to get French citizenship threw a ceramic cup at it, smashing the cup but not harming the glass or the painting.
Later, the glass in front of the "Mona Lisa" was smothered in cream in a protest in May 2022. Other attempts have included throwing soup at Vincent Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" at London's National Gallery in October 2022, and in the following month campaigners glued themselves to Goya paintings in Madrid's Prado museum.
(With inputs from agencies)
